From the Editor's Desk

A Blog by Marty Rosenberg

Martin Rosenberg is Editor-in-Chief
of EnergyBiz Magazine. EnergyBiz is a bimonthly business magazine for leaders in the new power industry. EnergyBiz
is a controlled circulation publication that reaches more than 20,000 of the most influential managers, executives,
legislators, regulators, lawyers and consultants who play critical roles in utilities, government, advisory firms,
and supplier companies.

Ron Binz, the former Colorado state utility regulator, is heading to a more powerful position. President Barack Obama has named Binz as his choice to be the next chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Binz, a Democrat, is an advisor with the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University, a backer of clean energy.
He is a strong supporter of...

Grid threats increase daily - from foreign foes, terrorists, criminals and hackers. Utilities are tasked with guarding against a rising tide of potentially disruptive intrusions into their power grid and electronic networks. What will it take to keep the power system secure - who will orchestrate the effort, what will it cost and who pays?
Join us noon EDT on Thursday for a path breaking...

China plans to spend $100 billion on long-distance ultrahigh-voltage lines.
China’s State Grid Corp. wants to learn at home and then quickly export its business to emerging nations, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The United States, Russia and Japan have worked on ultrahigh-voltage lines.
In the United States, flat demand for new power resources has stymied work on the next...

The morning newspaper brought word of Berkshire Hathaway on the march once again, snapping up another utility bauble.
Warren Buffett, the sage of Omaha, blesses the deal by Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
But what motivated the acquired NV Energy, to be snapped up in a $5.6 billion cash deal?
In mid-March, I interviewed Michael Yackira, NV Energy chief...

There was smart grid.
Then there was information analytics.
Next up, some very smart energy researchers and thinkers believe, is transactive energy.
Former utility exec, Roland J. Risser, now director of the Department of Energy's Building Technology Office, put it this way:
"We need a whole new business model for utilities going forward."
He made that comment today at "1st International...

The Italian utility executive smiled thinly a few years back. He was explaining why his company’s investments in solar power were planted largely in the north of his country – when the sun beamed down much more intensely in the south.
Similarly, the Oregon utility executive was a bit sheepish when I asked him why Oregon has been so bullish on solar when gray rainclouds blanket the...

For those tracking the dimensions of the solar stake in power – interesting stats came in the morning Wall Street Journal.
SolarCity, the solar installer, is going to court, alleging the government did not provide promised levels of grant support, the Journal said.
The federal government handed out more than $4 billion in federal grants for solar projects in the past four...

Not very long ago, I asked a utility CEO in America who could give me a full explanation of how carbon trading would work. That exec connected me to Tony White in London, who helped steer a firm called Climate Change Capital. He had advised the European Union on its policies.
Shortly afterwards, I remember taking an early morning train to White’s offices in the heart of London’s...

You saw it – didn’t you? George Shultz opines in today’s Wall Street Journal that we need to bring on the carbon tax – and make sure to keep it revenue neutral.
The carbon tax should support “reasonable and sustained support for research and development in the energy area,” writes the former secretary of state and Treasury secretary.
It is an...

GM expects to have 500,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2017. So predicts Daniel F. Ackerman, General Motors chairman and chief executive.
Ackerman told attendees at the annual IHS CERAWeek gathering in Houston that EVs in many forms - including all-electric powered and hybrid vehicles - will revolutionize transportation in America. The electrics produced by GM will save 12 billion...

E-Newsletters

Weekly interviews with industry leaders by the EnergyBiz magazine editor-in-chief, Martin Rosenberg. These interviews are conducted by telephone at conferences and in their offices. Delivered Each Monday